Unbroken, and why I am sick of war movies.

[abaris]

The war movies I can enjoy, are not the endurance crap, but the risks of compassion, like Oscar Shindler. It is easy to show the risks of the guys with guns, and that constitutes the majority of these types of movies.

I have exactly the same problem with war movies. They show war as if it was something like John Wayne riding into the sunset. It's seldomly depicted as dirty, brutal, unjust and damaging to those on the ground. Even private Ryan, which is often claimed to show war as it really is, had this hero tag on it. Ryan doesn't give a damn about his mother having lost every other child, he doesn't give a damn about his dead brothers, he just want to continue fighting for his real family.

It's pure propaganda which is continued into documentaries. There's a striking difference between documentaries being made in the USA and in Europe. In Europe, you get no sugar coating, most of the veterans interviewed are disillusioned and never talk in funny anecdotes as the Americans often do. And this is true for German docs as well as the british of french ones. It doesn't have to do anything with winning or losing, just the mere fact, that war has ripped their lives apart and robbed them of having a fulfilling youth.

It get's even more striking when you look at shows like firepower USA. That's nothing but an advert for joining the military.